Gabatrix: The Magenta Racer

Chapter 3: Mending Old Wounds

"Then tell me what happened next?" the psychologist asked Neo. The look of concern on the man's face was apparent.

"You tell me....." Neo tried to say with a mild discouraging remark.

It had been well over three hours since the race. Neo sat down on the couch near his psychologist. He felt the familiarity of being in the room. It was one that he had been in many times before.....almost countless times.

The office itself was one that wasn't too big of a place. Oshun was never the sort of place that had much living space. There were a few posters and pieces of painted art that decorated the enclosed soundproof walls. There was a singular art-crafted metal desk, a couple of chairs, and a long comfy couch for one to sleep on. The room only consisted of a single enclosed sliding door that remained closed for this emergency discussion.

The psychologist was a person that Neo had already met many times before. Doctor Frenry was a man of mixed complexion. He was bald and wore nicely trimmed trousers and a blue-collar shirt. He had a tablet in his hand that he would look off and on at while occasionally typing something down on the screen. The only genuinely unique feature about him was the light blue-colored eyes that he had. The augmented eyes allowed him to see things that normal eyes couldn't, but Neo could never figure out why he didn't just get typical colored augmented eyes that were less noticeable.

Frenry shook his head. "That isn't going to work," the doctor told him. "Avoiding in answering the question isn't going to get you out of here anytime sooner."

"Don't you already have the information?" Neo asked with hesitation. "It's all there on your tablet."

"I read a little bit, but I prefer that you tell me out of your own words."

Frenry seemed more than cooperative. He was reasonable as any person would go. His tone was always straightforward in how he communicated, and Neo had little room to argue with him.

"Fine....." Neo relented. "I was.....racing in the final qualifying race from the Oshun-400. I was on the second lap when I......my leg stopped working."

"According to the report, you had a severe panic attack. We hadn't had that in over a month since now."

"I know....." Neo remarked as he sighed. He put his hands to his head as he sighed. "It was because of the stupid leg."

"Were you able to find out the problem?"

"It was one of the synthetic nerve clusters near the knee. The hospital took it and made the fixes to it before I got it back. I hadn't had any further problems since then."

"Is this a common issue with your leg, having malfunctions with it?"

"Why is that so important?"

"Because you verbally assaulted a pedestrian over it," the doctor continued.

Neo grimaced a little bit. "It......I don't know. It happened so fast that I barely had time to deal with it. I just remember everything falling apart after that first lap."

"You went through several races before," Fenrey commented as he tapped a couple of buttons on his tablet. "The last time you came here, you had panic attacks after the race was complete, but not to this extent."

"I know."

"Have you been taking your medications as prescribed?"

"Yes," Neo commented as he gave a simple nod in response.

"I see. Tell me how your sleeping has been. Notice any differences?"

"I still have a hard time sleeping at nights at times. I take the ones that are designed to knock me out.....the Descrenicol....it does too much of a good job at times."